Destination D (10 page)

Briefing

W
hile buckling into her jump seat, Birdie asked, “So, Dee, did you get a good night's rest?”

“Yeah, I did, actually,” Dee grinned. “How about you ladies?”

“Oh, yes, we were quite comfortable. I love that hotel. We missed you at dinner.”

“I know. I was so tired Birdie, that I slept right through it,” she said, smiling again at the thought of Chris keeping her
busy
through dinner.

“Well, you missed out on some good Mexican.”

Yes, but I bet what I had was a whole lot better than what you had.
“Yeah, I'm sure. What's on your mind, Birdie? You look like the cat that just swallowed the canary.”

“Oh, nothing.” Birdie started to giggle.

The plane began its roll for take-off and they both got into the “ready” position—palms up underneath their thighs, and their heads resting firmly on the back of their jump seats. The engines grew louder.

“Am I missing something here?” Dee said.

“I just heard someone talking this morning.” Birdie started laughing so hard that tears were running down her face.

“All right, Birdie, what's up? I'd like to get a laugh also.”

Birdie took out a tissue from her smock and wiped the tears from her eyes. The plane had finally reached the cruising altitude and the captain had turned off the seat belt sign. They both unbuckled their seatbelts to start preparing the carts for the beverage service.

“Well, when I was coming down the elevator this morning, I happened to be in the same one as Chris Dickerson—my, he is handsome,” Birdie said as she fanned herself playfully. “Anyway, he was talking to someone on his cell phone about an attorney friend of his named Desiree. Dee was her nickname and she was from Atlanta. Supposedly, she works for this big firm, and he was going to ask if she would help his friend out with some type of legal problem.” Birdie burst into laughter again. “Is that not the most hysterical thing you've ever heard? I mean how many people would you think had the same first name as yours? Not to mention you both live in Atlanta!”

“That is ironic,” Dee said with a hollow laugh. “What else did he say?”

“Oh, he was talking about how he stayed in this woman's hotel room that kept him up so late that he was now running late for a meeting.” Birdie started to whisper. “He kept going on and on about how sexy she was.” Birdie was beginning to look embarrassed as Dee's face flushed.

“Geez, these men have no shame these days,” Dee said, trying to balance bags of pretzels, but dropping them on the floor instead.

“Here, let me get those,” Birdie said, looking at Dee suspiciously.

“Thanks. I guess I'm all thumbs today.”

“Hey, it happens to all of us.”

“You know, these jocks really have the life.”

“It seems that way,” Dee said, trying to sound unconcerned.

“I mean, they run around with all different kinds of women—probably have one for each day of the week—get a big ol' fat paycheck for getting a ball across a goal line. In the meantime, these silly women believe anything and everything they tell them just so they can be a part of their own fantasy. The truth is, the women that date these men need to take a cold hard look at themselves.”

“Well, you sure seem to know about the life of an NFL player. Have you had first-hand experience?”

“No, but when you've been flying as long as I have, you've seen it all. These women have no lives. Usually they're insecure about themselves and are dating them so that they can have some identity through them.”

“Really, now? So, you don't think a woman can have her own career and date a jock?”

“They can, but it's rare.” Birdie laughed.

Dee couldn't tell if Birdie was trying to see if
she
was really the woman that Chris was talking about.

“Hey, are you ladies ready for the beverage service?” Jodie said as she walked into the galley.

Dee filled the buckets with ice. “Yes, I'm ready.”

“Hey, Birdie, did you tell Dee who you saw in the elevator this morning?”

“Uh, huh, she told me,” Dee said, anxiously, before Birdie could answer.

“Hey, you have a law degree, don't you, Dee?”

“Yep, sure do,” Dee said as she unlatched the brake on the cart.

“I didn't know you had a law degree,” Birdie chimed in.

“Yeah, she's big time. She got it from Columbia. I remembered when we flew a line together shortly after you had gotten it,” Jodie said.

Dee was hoping that the uneasiness she was feeling wasn't showing in her face. She could feel the depths of Birdie's eyes penetrating through her.

“So you
are
an attorney!”

“Nope, still need to take and pass the bar,” Dee said as calmly as she could.

“So, the plot thickens,” Birdie laughed.

“What plot?” Dee asked, trying to sound naïve.

“Oh, Birdie's just trying to be the private investigator that she's always wanted to be,” Jodie chuckled. “It's such a coincidence, though, that the person Chris Dickerson was talking about had the same name as you.”

“Yes, it is. Well, it's obvious that I'm not the only Dee in the world.” Dee pulled out the beverage cart from the galley. “C'mon, let's get this service over with.”

Back at Base

A
s she poked her head in the doorway, Dee shouted, “I'm home! Is anyone here? Pam?” Legal papers were scattered across the kitchen table and a sink load of dirty dishes greeted Dee.

“Man, this place is a mess! Why she picks this spot to do her business, I'll never know.” Shaking her head, she locked the door behind her. With luggage in tow, she walked briskly through Pam's clutter cave and retreated to the cleanest part of the condominium—her bedroom.

Dee's room was her own private getaway. It exuded tranquility, something she definitely needed in order for her to return to her
real
world. The room's décor was influenced by her many trips to the Mediterranean. Soft yellow faux painted marbled walls served as a backdrop to the king-size bed, which was upholstered in antique gold silk. Crackle finished bed chests with marble tops flanked the sides of the bed. The bed coverings were a combination of luxurious silks in gold, coral, and blue hues punctuated by solid and striped pillows with the same color scheme.

Across from the bed was a small sitting area with an elongated window lavishly draped in gold and blue drapes that hung to the hardwood floors. The nook consisted of a neoclassic round wooden table and an overstuffed cane-backed chair where Dee would often unwind with a good book.

“Ahhhhh, there's no place like home,” Dee giggled, mimicking Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz.
She clicked the back of her heels three times before kicking off her shoes and collapsing backwards onto her bed.

She lay there for a while and briefly contemplated taking a nap, but decided instead to unpack from this trip and repack for her next one. Afterwards, she changed into some gray sweatpants and a red tank top and decided to call Tracey before she proceeded back into Pam's mess hall. Before she could press the last number, her phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Auntie Dee!”

“You beat me! I was just about to finish dialing your number.”

“Oh good. So, this is a good time to talk?”

“It's a perfect time,” Dee said as she sat down on her bed.

“Okay, let me first catch my breath. There's so much going on that I don't know where to start.”

“OOOOOkay,” Dee said sounding a little apprehensive.

Dee could hear Tracey breathing laboriously as she began to speak. “Well, I don't know how to say this, but when was the last time that you and Mama have spoken?”

“Hmmm…it's been a while.”

“That's what I thought. Well, Mama has been really having a hard time at work lately with
Ms.
Pam.”

Dee shook her head. She always did think it was a bad idea for Pam and Amanda to be working together. And of course, Pam kept her business issues to herself, especially if it was dealing with Amanda.

“What happened?”

“I'm not really sure, but I know she is not working there anymore.”

“What? She quit or Pam fired her?”

“Like I said, I'm not sure. But, the two of them really have some issues, and I can tell that it's really been bothering Mama. Can you talk to them, Auntie Dee?”

“I can try, but you know Pam and your mother's history. It will take a hurricane and a monsoon to get them to see eye to eye.”

“I know, but…”

“I'll see what I can do.”

“I know, you can't make any promises,” Tracey chimed in.

“Is that what has been so important for you to tell me?”

“No! There's more. It's about mama and my dad.” Tracey's voice sounded apprehensive and excited at the same time. Dee paused long enough not to sound totally caught off guard. Last she heard, Tracey father's had no contact with Amanda. Melvin was the only man that had been in Amanda's life for some time now.

“So what about them?”

“Well, I don't quite know how to say this, but we've been communicating for a while now—and long story short, he wants me to tell mama.”

“You mean Amanda doesn't know?” Dee went from a seated position on the bed to a full stance on the floor.

“Uh huh.”

Dee paced the floor, imagining Amanda's reaction once she got wind of what her daughter was doing behind her back. “Oh, Tracey!”

“Auntie Dee, Mama would have a baby cow if she knew I was seeing my dad!”

No! Twin baby cows,
Dee thought.
And I definitely don't want to be a witness to that birth.

Pam's M.O. was always the same. Whenever she had a crisis at work, she came home and made it a crisis as well. Dee glanced over at the sofa and saw Pam's robe and slippers lying on the floor next to a half-empty cup of stale coffee.

“She must have pulled an all-nighter,” Dee said seeing files tossed about on the floor. There were handwritten notes scattered around the kitchen table lying next to a mountain of pens and pencils. She sorted through Pam's paperwork and placed it in neat little stacks on the table, making sure to keep them in order. Next, she dutifully picked up the rest of Pam's belongings and returned everything to Pam's office where she felt like she had just stepped onto the set of a remake of
The Twilight Zone.

Pam kept her office as immaculate as a shrine. Beautiful African art and expensive oriental rugs flanked the hardwood floors. In the middle of the room sat a custom designed mahogany desk, given to her by one of her thankful clients who'd purchased it while on one of his many jaunts to Egypt. Two plum ultra-suede chairs sat in front of it, adding to the room's elegance. A breathtaking view of Buckhead, the premiere section of town for Atlanta's elite and
wannabe
elite, topped it off.

The bookshelves were filled with enough legal books to put Harvard's Law School bookstore out of business. Dee and Pam had shared some of the books in college. Back then, she, Pam, and Amanda swore that when they became lawyers they would open up a firm together. Pam had kept her end of the bargain. Amanda came in a close second as a paralegal. For Dee, that dream seemed light years away. If Pam wanted to, she could run a small law practice right from the comforts of her own home. Why Pam opted for the kitchen table instead remained a complete mystery to Dee.

Their kitchen was entirely too pretty for Pam to leave it as a mess hall. The decor was a unique blend of colors of salmon pink and apple green. The white ceramic tile floors were accented with ivy etched on alternating squares. Their sorority color theme was the work of an interior designer who was also an AKA.

After Dee finished sweeping the kitchen, she vacuumed the crumbs from the living room floor, and then wiped the perspiration from her brow. When she heard the doorbell, she yelled, “Just a minute!”

“Don't leave me standing out here all day,” the voice shouted back through the door.

Dee smiled at the sound of the familiar voice and jogged up the steps of the sunken living room and threw open the door. “Sedrick, hi!”

“Hi, stranger!” Sedrick gave her a bear hug. Dee stood on her toes to reach his 6'3” frame. She inhaled the refreshing aroma of his cologne as he released her from his grasp.

“When did you get back in town?”

“Just a couple of hours ago.”

His hazel eyes scanned the apartment and he shook his head disapprovingly. “Don't tell me. The maid is off today, and Pam hired
you
to clean up her mess again,” he teased.

“Sedrick, now, you promised.”

“I know. I said I wouldn't tease you about your
compulsive
disorder for cleaning, but Dee, come on, Pam's a grown-ass woman, you shouldn't have to…”

She placed her hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence, grabbed him by the hand, and walked him to the living room.

“Nice suit,” Dee said as she tugged on his tie. He was wearing what looked like a custom-made suit. It was charcoal gray complemented by a crisp white French cuff shirt and gray silk tie.

“Thanks. I do look pretty good, don't I?” Sedrick laughed as he smoothed out his tie.

“So what's the occasion?”

“Meeting with my bank.”

“I see, so you had to dress to impress, huh? Well you give the
appearance
that you're worthy of credit anyway,” Dee laughed.

“So you got jokes, I see. Don't hate baby, you just jealous!” Sedrick's smile broadened as he thought about how much they used to tease each other in college about how the other one dressed.

“Hardly! Do you remember the time when you were walking around the campus thinking you were all that, and that girl came up to you—what was her name?” Dee asked.

“Desiree? Man, she was so fine!”

“Yes, her.” Dee rolled her eyes at him. She was a little disgusted with herself that she used that same name to dupe Chris. “Yeah, Desiree tapped you on the shoulders and told you that your pants were nice, but you paid a little too much for them and snatched the price tag off your waist and handed it to you!” Holding her stomach, Dee doubled over with laughter.

“Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing.”

Dee slapped him teasingly on his knee. “Mr. GQ, at least that's what you thought you were anyway.”

“Was, and still am! And what about you, Miss Ebony Fashion Fair? You thought you were turning a couple of heads a few times as you walked over to math class at Morehouse. Seemed to me like every time you had a class at The House you had on a new outfit.”

“Well, a girl had to look good going to class,” she said, playfully smoothing her ponytail.

Sedrick laughed. “You didn't look like you were just going to class. You looked like you were getting
paid
to get dressed just to go to class!”

“Yes, we were both feeling ourselves back then, weren't we? Man, how time flies.”

Sedrick looked at her in admiration and contemplated his thoughts before he spoke. “But on a serious note, I must say, Miss Dee, there was never a prettier campus queen than you. You made an already
handsome
brotha look extra good on that day,” he said, pretending to smooth out his shirt.

“Yes, I did, didn't I? And you didn't make such a bad king, yourself, Mr. Meals on Wheels!” she said hitting him lightly on his chest.

“Aw, man, you just had to go there. Now, you're gettin' ready to dog out my frat.”

“Oh, no, I can't dog out Mr. cool Kappa!”

“Okay, go on. I know you just can't wait to dig in.”

“Oh,
au contraire
sir, but you were a trip in college. You would have those silly women eating right out of your hand. They would look at those big puppy dog eyes of yours and melt like butter. Geez! I couldn't believe how they let you charm the pants right off of them,” Dee said, smacking herself on the forehead in disbelief.

Sedrick looked a little embarrassed that she still remembered his wild ways from so many years ago. “Dee, now you know it wasn't like that at all.”

“Puh-leeze,
who are you trying to fool? Boy, I know you better than you know yourself.”

Sedrick could only laugh because he knew she was telling the truth. He was known as the most charming man on campus, with charisma that drew the ladies right in like moths to a flame. He took advantage of his boyish good looks that gave him an innocence that made women feel like he could never do any wrong.

Sedrick never spent money on groceries. His Kappa brothers nicknamed him “Mr. Meals on Wheels” because some woman was always driving food over to his apartment at least five days a week. Everyone except Dee. She was the only woman who ever looked at him
only
as a friend, and unbeknownst to her, she was the only woman that didn't have a clue about his true feelings.

“All right, next topic,” he said as he walked across the living room, marveling at the colorful painting on the whitewashed wall. “Cool, I see you got a piece of Fennell's work,” he said, trying to change the subject. “That's a nice one.”

“Thanks, I got it on one of my layovers in San Fran. The colors are so vibrant that it draws you right to it, doesn't it?”

Sedrick nodded. Dee could see that he was getting a little embarrassed about her teasing him. “Okay, I see I've beaten you down too hard going down Memory Lane. You're starting to sweat a little. Want a bottled water?”

“Very funny. Yes, that would be great,” he said as he walked back toward the loveseat. He sat down and flipped through the
Ebony
Magazine on the coffee table. After Dee pulled out two bottles of water from the refrigerator, she found herself staring out of the bay window at the glistening swimming pool ten stories below. Two gorgeous men had just gotten out of the pool. They were sitting in the lawn chairs and letting their chocolate-drenched bodies dry off in the sunlight.
No wonder Pam always did her work in the kitchen. This view was much better than the one in her office any day.
She opened up her bottle to take a sip as her thoughts moved toward Chris.

“What, cha' doin' in there, woman? Digging a well for the water?”

Dee walked back in the living room and handed him his water. “Oh, don't get your briefs in a wad.”